Ruben Amorim bemoaned Manchester United's lack of fluidity in the 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Reds were held at home by the bottom side, who registered only their third point of the campaign.
Joshua Zirkzee's deflected opener was levelled by Ladislav Krejci's header towards the end of the first half, and there was a lack of urgency until Patrick Chinazaekpere managed to force home in the last minute of normal time, only for VAR to confirm he was offside, when pouncing on the rebound after Benjamin Sesko's shot was saved by Jose Sa.
The boss had this to say to Sky Sports and MUTV afterwards, including an explanation as to why Zirkzee was withdrawn at half-time...
REDS TOILED THROUGHOUT
“We struggled for the whole game. We had a lack of creativity but we already knew that it would be a different game compared to Newcastle. We had a different energy also during the game. If you look at the 90 minutes, we had our chances but the fluidity wasn't there because there is a lack of connections in this moment.”
NOT OUR DAY
“Of course, we are frustrated. The performance wasn't good. The creation wasn't good. The fluidity of the game wasn't good. We knew we would struggle if they put a lot of men behind the ball. We tried to put three strikers in since the first minute but we struggled and tried to change that in the second half. Today wasn't our day. We lacked completely our fluidity during the game.”
LACK OF IMAGINATION
“When you have more men behind the ball, you have to work harder and to create more, to have more imagination to play the game in a different way. We lacked that quality today. They [the players] tried. We didn't play well and, when you don't play well with the ball, you struggle even without the ball. We need to recover and to go to the next one.”
WHY ZIRKZEE WAS SUBSTITUTED
“I think we were running around, trying to recover the ball. They overload with a lot of midfielders and we were struggling with that and, sometimes, you can attack better with less strikers. We played with three strikers - [Matheus] Cunha, Josh and Ben [Sesko] - they are three strikers and, sometimes, that’s not the best thing to attack well.”
NO EXCUSES
“If you play for Manchester United, it doesn't matter who is playing or who is on the bench and who is out. You have to perform and win. That is the pressure we have. You can look at the game and the position we put players in trying to manage but we struggle in certain moments. When we scored, we could not manage not to suffer in the last play of the first first half - today and in other days. That moment and those details are costing us a lot of points.”
JUST MOVE ON
“It's the same thing as when you play really well. We cannot change the result of this one but you can move on and go to the next one [at Leeds United on Sunday]. We cannot take a risk to lose anyone for many weeks. We will be ready for the next game. We know it is going to be tough but we will be ready for the next game.”